For the Love of Aging II

Last year I posted, For the Love of Aging which I now call the women’s version of aging gracefully. Seems when I see or hear commercials about women aging the commercials have a list of symptoms that we as women experience such as hot flashes, incontinence, weight gain, mood swings, depression, lack of desire, and a deficient in estrogen which brings about a slew of other symptoms. When I hear the same commercials directed towards men about aging there is always just one issue, erectile dysfunction. I know men have more symptoms.

Us women know a few men, we are either married to one, dating one, seeing one, (now there is a difference between dating and seeing, but that is a different topic for another blog post), related to one, friends with one or work with one. We can attest aging for them is not so different than us. As quiet as it’s kept men have mood swings, difficulty building muscle mass, forgetfulness, weight gain, the lack of sexual desire, and night sweats, AKA hot flashes. Yes, men get hot. The hot flashes may present as night sweats a little different than how flashes but the same because they are hot when no one else is.

The term MENopause is interesting to me as it starts with men. Now I’ve never told anyone this, however, my belief is MENopause is about men, created by men, and for men. Not a true belief but it’s funny and sounds good when you read the history of how women experiencing menopause were treated. You can imagine, men wanted no part of this treatment.

The history of MENopause as it was told in the Daily Mail, “In the 1800s The Victorians were deeply suspicious of women’s reproductive health. They thought there was a direct link between the womb and the brain which predisposed women to insanity, particularly during menopause. The remedy, they concluded, was straightforward: such women should be locked up. Menopausal women who displayed what was considered to be undue sexual excitement or interest were at best ridiculed and at worst subjected to surgery or a spell in the asylum, diagnosed as suffering with ‘climacteric insanity’. It was believed that the very nature of a woman’s physical make-up predisposed her to insanity. Even women who were not mentally ill were likely to offer ‘insane interpretations’ of their menopausal symptoms, according to George Savage, writing in The Lancet.” See what I mean men will have no part of this for sure.

Anyhow, I want it to be known men go through their own aging process or MENopause if you will, more subtle than women but they go through for sure. Some are very funny as they try hard to hold on tight to their youth. Let it go it’s gone stay in your lane and embrace your middle age self or your senior self. Just be your best.

All jokes aside as we age we need to see a doctor more often. There are silent killers out there that need constant checking such as stroke, heart disease, and diabetes to name a few.

Aging is inevitable be prepared, don’t take yourself too seriously, and take time out to laugh at the changes. Enjoy the moments and stay in the game as long as you can by staying healthy. The alternative to not aging is death.